BC Hydro isn’t the only energy provider fuelling the grid. There are more than six dozen independent power projects in the province — with another 52 in development

Video collection: 2035 Energy

“The day they shut off the generators, we could actually hear the river.”

The Douglas First Nation had been operating on generators since the late 1970s, even though decades earlier, a hydro tower had been erected on their land. Before that, it had been wood stoves and candlelight, except for the lucky few who had propane stoves and fridges, Chief Don Harris said.

Then Cloudworks Energy Inc. came to the small community of about 10 houses on the north end of Harrison Lake, an area about 65 kilometres from Vancouver as the crow flies, but 6.5 hours by logging road.

Cloudworks wanted Douglas to cooperate with it on a run-of-river project. Getting electricity was one of Douglas’s demands. Another was that impacts be kept to a minimum.

“Our community members didn’t want to lose our land structure, as well as our traditional fishing and hunting area,” Harris said. “Because when there is no work, the majority of our members live off the land because it’s too far to travel to go grocery shopping.”

In the end, BC Hydro connected the community directly, but Harris believes the discussions with Cloudworks made that happen sooner than it would have otherwise.

In 2010, the community had an electrification ceremony, celebrating the arrival of electricity and the economic possibilities that came with it.

Getting power to remote communities is only one benefit of independent power projects — projects operated by private companies — that are often off the beaten track. Energizing the rest of the province, which is predicted to need 16,500 more Gigawatt hours of electricity over the next 10 years, is another.

BC Hydro has been buying IPP power since the late 1980s, but in the past 10 years the IPP projects in operation have doubled.

BC Hydro is now buying power from IPPs under 74 electricity purchase agreements. The producers range from less than one megawatt (MW) of capacity to as much as 896 MW (from Rio Tinto Alcan in Kitimat).

Not all are clean energy sources — the second largest is a gas-fired thermal plant in Campbell River — but the majority are.

Most are hydro-based run-of river projects. But other projects include biogas, which creates energy from landfills; biomass, which gets its energy from wood trimmings; and two wind projects.

The total capacity is 3,271 MW, a little over one-quarter of the 12,000 MW of capacity BC Hydro owns directly.

In addition, BC Hydro has another 52 agreements with IPPs whose projects are in development. These projects are expected to create 2,317 MW of capacity.

Innergex Renewable Energy Inc., which bought out Cloudworks in 2011, has nine projects operating in B.C. and another two under construction. There are more in the development stage.

The Montreal-based company, which has projects in Quebec and Ontario, came to B.C. in 2001 and has since moved its hydro centre of expertise to Vancouver.

B.C. is a good place for independent power projects because there are still lots of undeveloped sites, said Richard Blanchet, Innergex’s senior vice-president, western region.

“When you go to Eastern Canada the remaining sites are probably harder to find.”

And B.C. needs power. Total installed capacity in the province — which includes producers other than BC Hydro like the IPPs and Fortis BC — is about 18,000 MW, Blanchet said. In Quebec, which exports some of its electricity, it’s almost 40,000.

So far, all of the Innergex projects in the province are hydro, but the company, which has wind and solar projects in Eastern Canada, is looking at expanding into wind.

Wind is still more expensive than hydro, but it is getting cheaper, with wind equipment — notably the 80-metre wind turbines — dropping in price by about 30 per cent in the last two years, Blanchet said.

“So wind projects are becoming much more competitive these days,” he said.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.